Aramco leads the windfall
Saudi Aramco recorded the largest gain among the companies highlighted in the report. Its second-quarter net income rose 34% to more than $33 billion, helped by higher oil prices and sales volumes.
BP also reported a sharp improvement, with second-quarter profit reaching $5.73 billion, nearly twice the level a year earlier and its highest quarterly net profit since the third quarter of 2022, according to the report.
Chevron posted $12 billion in adjusted earnings, including $8.2 billion from its upstream operations, with its quarterly profit reaching its highest level in at least six years.
Oil prices surge — then retreat
The war sent crude prices sharply higher during the spring. Brent, the global benchmark, stood at about $68 a barrel at the end of February and approached $100 in May, according to OilPrice.com.
The market has since been highly volatile as hopes for a US-Iran settlement have alternated with renewed concerns over Hormuz.
On Aug. 17, Brent was trading around $89 a barrel, after gaining roughly 6% the previous week. West Texas Intermediate was near $83. Oil prices were being supported by stalled US-Iran talks and a sharp decline in tanker traffic through Hormuz.
Only five vessels crossed the strait on Saturday and none on Sunday, compared with 31 the previous weekend, Reuters reported.
The UAE has also accused Iran of attacking a third tanker operated by Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., adding to concerns about further supply disruption.
Windfall-tax debate returns
The extraordinary earnings have revived calls for governments to impose or increase windfall taxes on oil companies.
Critics argue that producers are benefiting from a geopolitical crisis that has pushed up energy costs for households and businesses.
The issue has also drawn criticism from US President Donald Trump, who said Aug. 3 that ExxonMobil and Chevron were making “too much money” from the shortage.
Oil companies, meanwhile, argue that their earnings reflect the need to provide energy during a period of extreme market disruption and that higher profits support investment, production and shareholder returns.
The bigger energy-security lesson
The windfall also underscores the vulnerability created by continued dependence on oil and gas.
The IEA estimates that cumulative oil-supply losses from Middle Eastern producers have exceeded 1.3 billion barrels since the start of the war. It said flows through Hormuz averaged only about 2.7 million barrels a day during March through May, compared with roughly 20 million barrels a day before the conflict.
For governments, the crisis has therefore become more than a question of fuel prices.
It has accelerated discussions over strategic reserves, alternative shipping routes, domestic production, renewable energy, electrification and diversification of energy supplies.
For the oil majors, however, the immediate picture is starkly different: one of the world’s worst energy disruptions has produced one of the industry’s biggest profit bump in years.
